A Community based Baptismal Liturgy
Baptism Liturgy for a community-centered initiation into the Christian Faith
The most recently Baptized who is able, or volunteers from within the community, reads:
Each of us is born of the water of our mothers.
Only those who are born of water and Spirit will see the rein of God.
Being born of the water and Spirit is the beginning of our salvatory journey.
A journey nurtured in community, giving a foreglace of God’s rein, through our church community. The community, calls for accountability to our Christian mission. The church community encourages individuals, and all of the church collectively, to ever more closely reflect the will of God.
In Baptism, when we are born into the Spirit, we are also born into the family of Christ’s body. Becoming siblings, all birthed of the same body, the Church. Christ’s body doing the work of God and representing the ever-present Good News of the Gospel on earth. Each of us in remembrance of our own baptismal vows and in re-affirming our commitments to each other and God, are participants, doulas, and helpers in the birth of water and Spirt, the baptism of our new sibling in Christ. As a sign of our commitment to each other and to demonstrate our support to nurture our new sibling, let us reaffirm our commitment to Christ and each other.
All:
We surrender to God’s will, the parts of our humanity that cause sin and evil.
We confess that we still perpetuate sin and evil and humbly ask for forgiveness,
mourning the times we’ve hurt others and denied ourselves Christ’s grace.
Christ’s grace is our comfort.
Comforted, we boldly reclaim the freedom only found in salvation.
Salvatory grace that emboldens us to grow
Closer to each other and sanctifies us to God,
We reclaim our inheritance as full members of the family of God in Christ.
We will choose to be merciful, genuine, and vulnerable,
Living in justice and goodness,
Setting aside pride and vanity to be promoters of peace,
because we are each and all beloved children of God.
Let us rejoice and gladly welcome our new sibling.
The oldest baptized member or longest baptized member reads, as they are able:
Beloved child of God, do you see that the same creator that separated the waters from the sky, created the universe, painted the beauty of all of our earth, created you with the same magnificence and care in Their image?
Candidate: I am a beloved child and bear the image of God.
Do you see that your actions, even mistakes, can sometimes work against the will of God?
Candidate: I know I am human and accept that I will make mistakes.
We believe that baptism is the beginning of our journey to realizing the reign of God on earth. This one act of baptism is your first step in Christian discipleship, it bestows you with a promise of the Spirit and enables you to become perfect in your practice of reflecting God’s goodness. God always keeps God’s promises, so there is nothing you can do that will ever separate you from God’s grace through Christ. Do you believe that God keeps God’s promises?
Candidate: Through the scripture and witness of the church, I see that God keeps God’s promises.
There are no actions that will disable the Spirit’s work in your life. There is nothing that you can do that is too big or wrong for Christ’s grace. Only reception can limit how you are able to embody the goodness of God. The image of goodness that you have been imprinted with through baptism. Do you believe that Christ’s grace, God’s Goodness, and the presence of the Spirit are enough to exonerate any sin or evil you may cause, on purpose or by mistake?
Candidate: I believe that God’s Grace is enough.
Do you promise to choose to be merciful, genuine, and vulnerable for the sake of justice and goodness?
Candidate: Yes.
Do you promise to set aside pride and vanity to promote peace?
Candidate: Yes.
Do you promise to receive the Grace of God through Christ, empowered by the Spirit to the best of your ability embodying and enabling it to change your intentions and actions?
Candidate: I will allow myself to be shaped and changed by Grace.
Each of us has promised to work to remember the full goodness with which we were created. We have promised to help each other and work for justice in our societies so that we may all remember the image of God’s goodness and promises that we represent as Christ’s body, the church. We promise to humbly listen to your critiques and embody the Good News you bring to the Gospel. Do you promise to keep us accountable to our Christian mission and promises to each other?
Candidate: Yes, I promise.
Do you promise to humbly hear constructive advice and embody the truths from our community that bring you closer to the goodness of God?
Candidate: Yes, I promise to hear and embody the Good News.
The whole community should gather around the water, hovering their hands above the water or barely touching it with open palms. Baptized members should take turns reading the following statements:
Holy Separator of the Waters, You created a holy space for us to flourish, ordaining through creation a safe and nurturing home for us.
Holy Drawer of the Rainbow, you transformed the arrows of flooding rains into a promise of protection and sustenance for the future.
Holy Parter of the Sea, You delivered your people from danger to safety and covenant in the desert.
You are the Promised Land for your people.
All: Let us Rejoice and be Glad.
Holy Submitter to Time and Space, You became fully human, remaining fully divine, joining us in birth by the waters of Mary.
Holy Healer and Miracle Worker, The presence of Your divinity was made evident in wonderful works of healing and rectifying of communities.
Holy Preacher and Teacher, You became human to teach us how to be human and realize our own divinity through You.
Holy Christ, You submitted, in your full humanity to the most human of actions, birth and death.
Holy Conqueror of Death, Your divinity was greater than the power of death. You conquered death in resurrection. Teaching us that we can find ultimate freedom in you.
You brought the Promised Land to all people.
Holy God Who Was and Is and Is to Come, You give us freedom to live now, as if your reign has begun. You promise that one day, the Gospel of your Reign that we embody, will become a reality to all people in our world.
You will welcome all of creation to the Promised Land.
In the waters of baptism, are all of Your promises made and kept, and all promises that we believe You will keep.
In these waters are all the promises we make to each other and to you. These waters are the womb of the Spirit life. Let us each remember our own baptisms.
Baptized members should take a handful of water and pour it over their own heads. The baptismal pool should be accessible to all members, but any who are not able to gather around the pool should be brought as close as possible and blessed baptismal waters taken to them. They each should remember their baptisms in place, as they are able or as they can accommodate the practice to their needs. Each baptized member should have a chance to touch the waters with their palms in blessing. The waters that have been blessed and used for remembrance, should be poured back into the baptismal pool.
Let us doula our new sibling into a new life in You.
As the candidate is able, they enter the baptismal waters. (The work of baptism is done by God’s grace, not the water or the people, to accommodate the needs of each candidate to have a meaningful positive experience.) Each baptized member should take a cupped palm of water and pour it on the shoulders of the candidate, with additional handfuls of water poured on behalf of those unable to physically pour the water on the candidate themselves. The proxy should be the one who administered the remembrance and should reach out their hand to the person they are proxy for while remembering. Baptized members unable to pour are encouraged to reach their palms toward the candidate for baptism.
The candidate for baptism should submerge themselves as they are able, accommodating pouring from the pool as needed.
You are baptized in the name of God in Heaven, Father of Jesus, Mother of all Creation, The Promised Land.
The candidate for baptism should submerge themselves as they are able, accommodating pouring from the pool as needed.
You are baptized in the name of Christ, The Fully Human and Fully Divine, Son of Mary, Son of God, Embodied Wisdom Sophia
The candidate for baptism should submerge themselves as they are able, accommodating pouring from the pool as needed.
You are now born of the Spirit, the very presence and workings of the Triune, The Spirit that hovered over creation. You are ordained to make and keep the promises of God, enabled by the Spirit and nurtured by this community to live into the realm and reign of God. Your life is now a witness to the goodness of God. Welcome!
The parents or family of the newly baptized reads, as they are able:
Triune God,
We pray for the life and witness of our new sibling, we pray we may love and support them and collectively all grow more in your likeness. Please open us to the Good News they’ll reveal to our community as a reflection of your ever-revealing image. Give us patience and flexibility to incorporate their wisdom. In your wisdom, Holy Sophia, root us in holy scriptures and traditions that draw us closer to the reign of God and mutual flourishing. We pray we are instruments of your will. Bless and keep this and all our siblings, born of the body of Christ. Let us be a blessing to all of creation and glorifying to you.
Amen
The newest baptized members should stand as they are able. Cheering and celebration should ensue as is appropriately accommodated for the newest member, snapping or shaking of hands in lieu of cheering as needed, the water of the baptismal pool may be splashed in celebration. All church members, not just those baptized may now interact with the pool of water, invited into the splashing and showering grace of God. Children and adults alike are invited to play and interact with the water. All water should be returned to the earth in celebration of the co-creation of growth through God’s grace.
Leaders should prompt all members in the community to pass the peace, greeting each other, and embracing. Encourage all members to great each other and thoroughly welcome the newest baptized in the manner most appropriate for that individual.
Following baptism, praise and singing should occur followed by a communal meal where communion takes place.
